More alleged victims come forward in 'serial predator' case

Authorities have labeled Seth Mull as a 'serial predator' who forced women to sign sex slave contracts and raped them.

The sexual assault report brought police to a hotel outside Bethlehem where a woman had fled to the lobby in a towel, claiming she had been raped.

The 19-year-old woman spoke with police officers, court records detail, telling them Seth R. Mull forced himself upon her in his room after becoming angry because she refused to have sex with him and another woman.

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Ten weeks later, the accusations are part of a still-growing police investigation into Mull, a Lower Saucon Township man whom authorities label a "serial predator" with alleged victims from the Lehigh Valley to Honolulu.

In the last week, authorities said they heard from four alleged victims in Bethlehem, as well as others in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Honolulu.

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But Sept. 27, when local law enforcement received their first report involving Mull and the woman who fled to the lobby, it didn't result in an arrest.

Colonial Regional police let Mull go after the alleged encounter at the Best Western in Hanover Township, Northampton County, with investigators and a prosecutor determining further evidence needed to be developed before charges were filed.

District Attorney John Morganelli said he does not second-guess the decision not to arrest Mull during what was the first of the three police calls involving him. Morganelli and other law enforcement officials said rape cases can be difficult to prosecute, given that many lack witnesses and physical evidence and often involve victims who are reluctant to testify.

Just an allegation doesn’t do it these days. We have to make sure that we have corroborating evidence.

A month later, Mull was taken into custody after another rape allegation at another hotel. He's been jailed since.

The arrest came Oct. 28, when Bethlehem police were called to the Holiday Inn Express on Cherry Lane after a woman sent a text message to her parents indicating she was being abused, authorities said. Police said they charged Mull after speaking to that woman, who reported he drugged and raped her.

The week before, Bethlehem officers responded to Hyatt Place Hotel on West North Street at the request of family members of a woman staying there. Though they told police they feared the woman was the victim of sex trafficking at the hands of Mull, she told officers everything was fine, according to court records.

That woman has since recanted that claim, police said, telling investigators she made the denial "because he was standing right there," according to Bethlehem Detective Brian Quinn.

Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli is asking the public to come forward with information against Seth Mull, labeled by authorities as a "serial predator."

Colonial Regional police said the woman was invited to Mull's room by a female friend. Authorities said Mull had sex with the friend while the woman huddled for hours in the bathroom, afraid to leave. When she tried to leave, Mull pulled off her clothes and raped her, she told police.

The other woman in the hotel room refused to cooperate with Colonial Regional Detective Gary Hammer, Morganelli said. Hammer had the cellphones of Mull and that woman, and the sex crimes prosecutor Hammer consulted with, Assistant District Attorney Tatum Wilson, felt those phones needed to be analyzed, Morganelli said.

"There was more work to be done before the charges could be filed," Morganelli said. "Once the charges are filed, we have to prove our case. We wanted to get into the phone, which took time."

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Morganelli added: "The police department has to make sure we have a solid case before charges are filed. Just an allegation doesn't do it these days. We have to make sure that we have corroborating evidence."

Court records reveal Mull has a criminal past as a juvenile with sex assault charges filed in New Jersey.

Morganelli said he does not know whether Hammer was aware of that history when he responded to the Best Western. Morganelli said he believes Hammer may have developed that information later, as his investigation unfolded. Hammer declined to comment.

The investigation involving Mull continues to grow, Bethlehem police Chief Mark DiLuzio said. He said rape cases are known to be challenging to prosecute.

"It's sometimes a difficult crime to prove," DiLuzio said. "And as we've seen in this case, quite often, victims are afraid to come forward."

Rapists often control their victims with "terror and brute force," DiLuzio said. Mull beat his victims, choked them and forced them to consume drugs, authorities said.

At a Dec. 1 news conference asking more women to come forward, Morganelli said Mull used a "sex slave contract" to force women to be his "sex slaves." Morganelli said Mull forced women to participate in orgies or prostitution, and would threaten to kill them or their family to keep them under his control.

In the Bethlehem case that led to Mull's arrest, the woman told police she met him through an online dating app and agreed to come to his hotel, authorities said. But after they had consensual sex, he became violent and aggressive, telling her "she was his property and was not allowed to say no to him," police said.

When police spoke to her, the woman had visible injuries to her neck and had been burned on her back with a torch, according to the allegations.

Several court documents filed by authorities offer details of the continuing investigation:

Mull was 14 when he was first charged with sexual assault in New Jersey. In 2002, when he was 15, Mull was again charged in New Jersey with sex assault, as well as burglary and receiving stolen property.

Under Megan's Law, Mull was classified as a juvenile "violent sexual offender" in New Jersey, police said.

According to sex offender registries maintained by New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the U.S. Department of Justice, Mull is no longer registered as a sex offender. Morganelli said he did not know why Mull's name no longer appears.

The details of the New Jersey charges are not known since Mull was a juvenile at the time and those records are not released to the public.

As local police looked into Mull's background, investigators also spoke to a woman who claimed Mull raped and sexually assaulted her when they lived together in Honolulu in 2016. Mull was charged with several counts of sexual assault in the Honolulu case, but those charges were later dismissed, court records say.

DiLuzio said victims are often too fearful to come forward. He mentioned the woman whom Bethlehem police spoke to at the Hyatt Place, who initially said nothing was wrong.

"When we are interviewing these women, you can just see the fear in their eyes because they have truly been terrorized," DiLuzio said. "There's no other way to describe it."